Buenos Aires creates time capsule for 2210

Buenos Aires, Aug 12 (IANS/EFE) The city government in the Argentine capital has launched a project to create a “time capsule” with messages for people living 200 years later.

Citizens of the capital have been invited to send via internet til Oct 8 a message that will be seen on May 25, 2210, when the capsule is opened.

Aiming to be the first collective, open and public archive in Argentina, the project will gather statements from residents and celebrities of the capital city in many formats, including text, audio, image, video and multimedia.

The project was launched as part of festivities celebrating the bicentenary of a revolution in May 1810 that sparked the process that would culminate with the country’s independence in 1816.

“Citizens will be able to take part in this project either by uploading information or by participating in an interactive interview on www.capsula2210.com, an online receptacle that will serve future generations as a registry of today’s customs and experiences,” Telefonica, a Spanish telecommunications provider in South America, said in a statement.

All documents will later be copied on large-capacity high-speed optical discs that will be stored inside a titanium cylinder weighing 250 kg.

“We are building a bridge in time to communicate today’s way of life to future generations. A glance at this world of 2010 will reach 2210 as the greatest legacy of our culture. The diversity of the different individual samples will create an immensely significant close-up mosaic of an era and a society,” Hernan Lombardi, culture minister of the city government of Buenos Aires, said.

–IANS/EFE